It is a “spike,” but not your grandmother’s spike; this is a spike in Technicolor…on steroids. This spring’s “Hot Plant” is Cordyline australis and it literally takes the heat, or any other weather condition you can throw at it. Drought is not an issue and I did not see one torn leaf when the derecho tore through our area last summer ... >> read article

Stiff bluestar is an easy-to-grow, but underused, addition to the Pennsylvania garden. Native to open woodlands of the Gulf Coast region, stiff bluestar is much hardier (Zones 5 to 9) than its natural range suggests. >> read article